MANILA, Philippines – Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr and alleged “pork barrel” mastermind Janet Lim Napoles arrived at the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan on Thursday, June 26, for their arraignment for plunder and graft charges in connection with the biggest corruption scandal in recent Philippine history.

Revilla, who left his detention facility in Camp Crame past 7 am on Thursday morning, was not handcuffed and was not in detainee uniform since there was “no threat of flight,” police authorities said. The senator was in formal attire – he wore a barong.

The Sandiganbayan First Division has scheduled the arraignment for Napoles, Revilla, his aide Richard Cambe, and their co-accused at 8:30 am. The 1st division is chaired by Justice Efren N. dela Cruz with members Rodolfo A. Ponferrada and Rafael R. Lagos. 

Napoles left her detention facility in Fort Sto Domingo in Laguna early Thursday morning for her arraignment.

In contrast to Revilla, Napoles appeared before the court wearing a hoodie and sunglasses.

According to the Office of the Ombudsman, Revilla got the biggest amount of kickbacks from an elaborate scheme involving the diversion of lawmakers’ Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to non-existent or unfinished development projects of fake non-governmental organizations, many of which were linked to Napoles. (READ: 3 PH senators charged with plunder over PDAF scam)

Revilla is said to have collected the biggest amount of commissions amounting to P224 million, followed by Senator Jinggoy Estrada with P183 million, and Senator Juan Ponce Enrile with P172 million.

On Wednesday morning, June 25, prosecutors from the Office of the Ombudsman filed before the Sandiganbayan a manifestation seeking to amend the information against Revilla. They wanted to strike out the phrase that Napoles siphoned off lawmakers’ PDAF “for her personal gain.” Napoles’ lawyers had also filed a motion to quash the information against her, arguing that she is not a public official to be accused of plunder.  – Rappler.com